Rockfest 2016 - It's a New Dawn! September 17 - 18, Landroval

The schedule for this Rockfest is almost full already, and hence there will be little or no opportunity to sign up to play. I ask your understanding in this matter which is partly due to commitments made before I took over the organising of Rockfests.

Further Rockfests are being envisioned for next year and will have signups, at least one of them.

The schedule for this Rockfest is almost full already, and hence there will be little or no opportunity to sign up to play. I ask your understanding in this matter which is partly due to commitments made before I took over the organising of Rockfests. .

Having played with a lot of joy on all the rockfests since the very beginning with my band, I think it is really sad that it's a closed event now. Isn't it part of the fun to give everyone a shot at this?

I do not know why it upsets you.Who comes first come first served, that has always been soOther events such as eg. weather stock also closed events. There are just a limited game time, at 2 days or do you want one week Long Festival? Then it organized ....Furthermore, as well as lesser known bands benefit, to be known

The event was shortened and before there was any chance to apply for everyone - concluding from Toadflaxes post - the slots were given to bands that were informed upfront or had some pre-arrangement with the former organisers.

But so it is in reality.Another truth is that there are too many bands for too few slots.What I would also maybe is that play on each Festival the same bands, or bands they think are better than others and, therefore, to play a privileged there. Music should be diversity.criticism is one thing, solutions demonstrate another., Write a comment, your ideas, where to go.

There are still a few replies pending from bands after which the schedule so far will be posted. I will say more about how this year's lineup was put together at that time.

Rockfest 2016 will have lots of good bands, but alas there are also at least as many equally good bands which do not get to play this time. The alternative is to have a huge festival like Winterstock or Shirefest but we already have those and I think that is sufficient.

We are blessed in LOTRO to have so many good bands, it is like having a truckload of Mushrooms and wanting to eat them all which is undoable in one sitting, even for a Hobbit.

I have had advice and input from many people, and also my own ideas and I have learned that no matter what you do, there will always be some dissatisfaction with any decision (different people disagreeing with different issues, though).

Yes, this Rockfest will largely see invited bands - my original thought was to have a mix of invites and signups but the way things happened that proved impractical.

For 2017 I plan to have signups eggsclusively(1) and give some thought to variety which among other things mean, bands which did not get a spot in 2016 will stand a better chance of getting a spot next time.

(1) There is one half-promise I may have to keep, but apart from that.

I didn't know about the Rockfest until just recently. Having moved to Landroval only last fall from Nimrodel, I wasn't aware of all the different events that take place as we do/did not cross servers to participate. And now I guess it doesn't matter since only select bands will be participating. I and my band (The Fluffy Unicorns) are sorry that we will not have a chance to play. Maybe we might have the opportunity next year.Sincerely,Hannariel,Band leaderThe Fluffy Unicorns

The event was shortened and before there was any chance to apply for everyone - concluding from Toadflaxes post - the slots were given to bands that were informed upfront or had some pre-arrangement with the former organisers.

This is basically an invite-only event now.

I don't like where this is going!

I don't think that was at all the intent; it just kinda ended up looking that way. Perhaps it should have been handled differently. I'm sure it will be next time.

(Note that this forum post is almost entirely just my own guesswork and speculation.)

I *believe* what happened is that, back in May/June, Toadflax knew the event would occur this year, but the exact date(s) of the festival was still uncertain (sometime during late summer/early autumn for the northern hemisphere). She intended to have open signups, but could not do so until the calendar was set.

Rather than turning away interested parties in the meantime, she accepted early bookings. In retrospect, she probably should have just put them on a list to be notified about when registration would open and been clear that such listing does not constitute a slot reservation. My guess is that she initially had some concerns about being able to fill all the timeslots for such a long festival. With Rockfest 2, the event's initial schedule filled up, but when it was then expanded by opening up four more late-Saturday-night slots, not all ended up being filled. It was also unknown how interest would be affected by the decision to hold Rockfest 3 later in the year than the previous two.

Moreover, I suspect that much of the motivation behind accepting early bookings was the very real potential that other events might soon be announced that could compete with Rockfest over event dates, bands, and audience. Securing commitments from a couple dozen bands, even without a confirmed date, would go a long way toward mitigating the effect of such incidents.

She later learned that there were a few bands who felt that they had already (before Toadflax had fully assumed the role of event administrator) received some, at least tacit, agreement from Rockfest for their participation this year.

At some point, it may have become apparent that she could probably fill up most, if not all, of this year's timeslots through informal means and altogether avoid the hassle and headaches of creating, promoting and managing a formal registration process.

I'm guessing that her first and foremost concern for a successful Rockfest 3 was to have a full slate of bands. Secondarily was that it include *good* bands. Really, the importance of those goals should be obvious to anyone. Well, she happens to *know* several good bands. Directly approaching some of those bandleaders to let them know she was looking for bands would be an easy way to make progress toward accomplishing both goals. It must have been a relief to know that the bulk of the booking tasks might be out of the way two months before the event.

After the date was set, she did publicly announce that there were (a small number of) slots available. (Including an announcement on LOTROartist. That one escaped my notice at the time, but I had already approached her about my band weeks earlier.) However, there would have been no need to publicise it aggressively — doing so would only increase the number of enquiries she would have to deny, as it was already a near certainty by then that band lineup would very soon be full. (And, considering that most bandleaders have already put a lot of thought and planning into a festival before they go to sign up, including working it out with their band and organising their schedules accordingly, having to tell them “No” is not a pleasant experience.)

This is Toadflax's first time organising Rockfest. It is a *large* music festival, the most fundamental piece to the success of which is securing commitments from and scheduling a *large* number of bands. So she did. But I don't think she quite anticipated how very many, or how deeply, bands would feel they should have been included. There are a lot of music festivals, big and small, in Middle Earth. We don't *have* to play at all of them. Nor should we dwell on disappointment if we miss one, even a favourite. Gig opportunities abound.

Really, it is the lesser-established bands, not the well-known, multi-time veterans, who lose the most by missing an opportunity to play a high-profile, big festival.

Hello everyone! As former organiser of this event I feel I should add my tuppence worth.

Firstly, I am very happy to see Rockfest continuing and that Toadflax has honoured my ideas for this years event in including new/unknown bands. It was my observations that many bands who are more established and popular were taking up many slots at many events and some newer bands were feeling a little intimidated and that they were not welcome at the larger events.

My original plan was to have Rockfest 16 over 3 nights, with the middle night being exclusively for new and unknown bands, however I can see how this could be a logistical nightmare with bands availability etc and not everyone has the time to run a 3 day event.

Toadflax and team are doing a great job and I am sorry to see such negativity towards any change to the previous formats.

As far as I can recall, there were 2 bands who had contacted me previously asking for slots at this years Rockfest and I had not promised a slot, only to let them know straight away when registrations opened. If Toadflax has handled filling the slots differently this year then that is her prerogative as the new organiser and I can see how this would have many benefits to the previous system, especially considering the premise of having more new and unknown bands take part than previous years. I am very happy to see in the schedule a balanced mix of regular rock bands and new names!

I am still popping in game with Calanne now and then so am only semi-retired, but I am taking a break from the music stuff as I got a bit burned out on it. I will definitely look forward to attending Rockfest as an audience member and dancing to some awesome music from bands both old and new :)

I critized that the event is a closed one now, while it used to be open and welcoming. That may sound negative, but is a true statement. You can argue how you want, to me that is a big disapointment, and I'm sure at least some folks think the same.

I would like to say we were grateful to get the chance to perform here. It was our first performance as a band. I agree with Miamo and Halgoreth about new bands. From a new band perspective: There are so many bands, and when you go to Landy to start one you get encouraged to see that music is so popular there. As time continues, you realize that if you are lucky enough to get chosen for some of the larger events - that may be the only time you will get to play. Most all of the prime time slots on the regular calendars are taken (Friday, Saturday, Sunday). Some of them are taken until 2020. LOL. Some for many hours each week. You can always play down the street if you chose to, but mostly you will not get much crowd participation. There goes that left out feeling someone mentioned in their post. There are not going to be many new bands make it there because of this - unless they are reforming from a former band that is in the regular dominant lineup. Eventually things are going to get stale. There will be no new entertainment. I can't begin to say how many I have seen come and go in the few years I was there that didn't make it, or ended up going to other servers. Just trying to make a point here - give a new perspective from someone who has experienced it. We had a regular scheduled time for awhile and would frequently show up and someone else would be playing. Bands that plan their own events have their own agenda and never expand beyond that. Landy to us did not seem 'new band friendly'. Especially if you popped out of nowhere and knew no one. Having been in it for several years now, we moved on to other servers. Our love is for music, and we wish to go where we can play it the most unhindered and most appreciated.